There are few things more aggravating than having to start over.  Whatever it is that sends you back to your base—the loss of a job or home, a devastating diagnosis or recurrence, a personal failure or relational rift—it takes time to get your legs under you and get back in the game.  Believe me, I know.  Of the five messages in our series The Game of Life, this is the one that hits closest to home for me, because three and a half years ago, I experienced the most challenging setback of my life.  It taught me some valuable lessons, and it increased my respect for biblical characters who have made great comebacks.  I'm looking forward to sharing what I have learned, both from the Scriptures and from the school of hard knocks, this Sunday at Sunridge.

This morning I stumbled onto a YouTube video that contains a clip from a DVD series that will be released by Baker Books in August. It's called Deepening Life Together, and I teach the Book of Romans in seven sessions on one of the DVDs. For more information about the series, click here.

I took this picture on the East Coast, at a Christian camp in Maryland called Sandy Cove.  Just like the Hume Lake pic, it has my favorite kind of chair, an Adirondak.  My family went to Sandy Cove in the summer of 2007 at a time when we desperately needed time away to rest.  It was a great week!

When was the last time you got alone with the Lord to rest?

Pastors get used to preaching through distractions (cell phones ringing, people coming in and out, heads bobbing), so when it's utterly quiet, and no one is so much as fidgeting, I suspect the Spirit of God is working.  That happened yesterday at Sunridge at the same time in both services.  It was when I was talking about the importance of installing a firewall in our brain to keep inappropriate images and information from corrupting our mental hard drive.  We all agree with that advice theoretically, but what does it mean practically?  This clip answers that question, specifically for those who battle lust.

How do you keep viruses out of your mental hard drive?

Saturday is, officially, a day off for me, but on most Saturdays I put finishing touches on my sermon, create a note sheet with applicational questions (they're stuffed in programs early Sunday morning by a faithful team of volunteers who commiserate about my procrastination), and design PowerPoint slides.  I think a lot about Sunday on Saturday.  That has been especially true today, because I have a vague sense that God is going to do something special tomorrow (if you're reading this after church, you know if I was right).

I'm going to be teaching on the subject of secret sin—escaping it, or better yet, avoiding it.  I said in my email to the church that I will share "seven practical strategies for winning private battles", but after I wrote that I shortened the list to six.  So, if you feel cheated, I'll share one more idea here.  It is more preventative than curative, and it comes from a great article by Randy Alcorn.  He says:

"Often those who fall into sexual sin can point back to lapses in their practices of meditation, worship, prayer, and the healthy self-examination such disciplines foster. All of us know this, but in the busyness of giving out, we can easily neglect the replenishing of our spiritual reservoirs. Daily disciplines are important, of course, but I've found that for me they're not enough. God gave Israel not merely one hour a day but one day a week, several weeks a year, and even one year every seven to break the pattern of life long enough to worship and reflect and take stock."

Spiritual disciplines are like Weed-N-Feed; they nourish us and protect us at the same time.  But, for me at least, keeping those disciplines, especially at a slow enough pace to really connect with God, is harder than ever. There are always emails to read, Twitters to send, Facebook friends to chat with, and blogs to post (that's convicting). What I've learned anew recently is that nothing satisfies like Jesus does—and nothing protects me from sin like lingering in His presence.

How and when do you spend unhurried time with the Lord—daily, weekly, and yearly?

Today I'm preparing for the talk I'll be giving on Sunday titled "Taboo: When It Feels Good To Do What You Know Is Bad."  Here's what I wrote in the e-mail I sent to my congregation:

Dear friend:

All sins are serious, but some are so taboo that they are committed in secret and never mentioned in public. What causes us to hide behind closed doors may be embarrassment, or it may be the reluctance to give up what has become an addictive pleasure, or it may be a combination of those two things--but, if you are waging a private war against a habitual sin, you are probably haunted by two accompanying thoughts:

"I'm all alone."

"There's no way out."

Take a look at 1 Corinthians 10:13, and you'll see that both of those thoughts are lies. Your struggle is a common one, and there is a way of escape. But what is it? This Sunday at Sunridge, I'll share with you seven practical strategies for winning private battles. It's not a formula, but a stack of proven biblical principles, one of which may be God's way of escape for you. If you need to be set free, don't miss church this Sunday.

If you don't have a church home, and you live in the Inland Empire, I hope you'll join us!

In the summer of 2004 I was asked to speak at at Hume Lake Christian Camps, and one morning I took my tiny Pentax point-and-shoot camera to the lake.  The sun was rising over the mountains, the mist was rising from the water, and I captured one of my favorite shots ever.

When have you captured a special moment on camera?

Yesterday I taught a two-hour session on discipleship in Student Venture's Bible Boot Camp. It's a three-week summer school for high school students taught by local pastors and teachers. What struck me yesterday as I was teaching was just how radical the seven discipleship sayings of Jesus are (I could see it on the faces of the students). Anybody who says Christianity is for sissies doesn't know Jesus. Check out these passages:

John 8:31

Luke 14:26

Luke 14:27

Luke 14:33

John 13:35

John 15:8

Matthew 28:19-20

And then look at Acts 11:26.

Which passage is most challenging to you? Why?

Almost every day, I pray through the Lord's Prayer (not word-for-word, but I use it to structure my requests), and then I do what Romans 12:1 urges me to do—I offer my body to God, part by part.

This week a friend asked me to write down my "living sacrifice" prayer.  I have never done that before, because my prayers are informal.  But I gave it a shot.

Lord, today I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.

I give you my mind, that I might think as Jesus thinks.

I give you my heart, that I might feel what Jesus feels.

I give you my eyes, that I might see what Jesus sees.

I give you my ears, that I might hear what Jesus hears.

I give you my mouth, that I might say what Jesus would say.

I give you my hands, that I might touch people as Jesus would.

I give you my feet, that I might go where Jesus would go.

May today be a day in which I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.

Amen.

How do you offer your body to God each day?